Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law [Hardcover]

Khaled Abou El Fadl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0521793114 | ISBN-13: 978-0521793117 | Edition: First Edition

Khaled Abou El Fadl's book represents the first systematic examination of the idea and treatment of political resistance and rebellion in Islamic law. Pre-modern jurists produced an extensive and sophisticated discourse on the legality of rebellion and the treatment due to rebels under Islamic law. The book examines the emergence and development of these discourses from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, and considers juristic responses to the various terror-inducing strategies employed by rebels--including assassination, stealth attacks and rape. The study demonstrates how Muslim jurists went about restructuring several competing doctrinal sources in order to construct a highly technical discourse on rebellion. Indeed many of these rulings may have a profound influence on contempoary practices. This is an important and challenging book which sheds light on the complexities of Islamic law, and pre-modern attitudes to dissidence and rebellion.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"He has made Rebellion and Violence the sort of book i wish scholars outside of our field would read. It wonderfully imparts a sense of the subtlety and sophistication-and, surprisingly perhaps, given the subject matter, the humanity-of juristic discourse in the Islamic tradition."
Joseph E. Lowry, Journal of Near Eastern Studies

Book Description

Khaled Abou El Fadl writes the first systematic examination of political resistance and rebellion in Islamic law. Pre-modern jurists produced an extensive discourse on the legality of rebellion and the treatment due to rebels under Islamic law. The author examines the emergence and development of these discourses from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, and demonstrates how these rulings have been reconstructed in the twentieth century. This is a book for scholars of Islamic law, and for those concerned with conflicts in the modern Islamic world.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First Edition edition (December 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521793114
• ISBN-13: 978-0521793117
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,664,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On Disingenuous Previous Reviews, November 18, 2002

By 

Sarah Bonne (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law (Hardcover)

The previous reviews entitled "What a Shame" and "Rebellion is not Violence" harbor ill will that reveal much about the reviewers and nothing about the author nor the book. First, I cannot imagine who better to comment on the book and the author, Dr. Abou El Fadl, than his graduate students, who have obviously committed their time and intellectual energy into studying his work at a depth that few others can. By defending their teacher, they honor their teacher, and this says nothing of whether or not the book can stand on its own merits. Without question, the book stands on its own merits, or it would not have been published by Cambridge University Press, nor won the accolades of so many reviewers that it has. I don't understand why someone would be critical of a professor's students defending their professor or his work, unless that person harbored some kind of ill will towards the students or the professor.

As to the other review, the reviewer embarrassingly reveals the fact that he has not even read the book in the comments that he makes. Among the most obvious guffaws are his comments that "the work is exclusively focused on Salafi thought," and that it "ignores the Shi'ite point of view." Ali must have been reading a different book or skipped past most of the chapters, because the book does neither. Ali claims that it is historically inaccurate that Islamic law does not call for the killing or destruction of rebels. If he had actually read the book, and understood what he was reading, he would have learned he was wrong in this statement. Ali's assertions that the author misunderstood what he was doing, was neglectful, confused or oversimplifying are funny, and the examples he provides as evidence are just as funny, not to mention flimsy, ahistorical and superficial. The punchline of the book being a "good start, but it is hardly a reference on rebellion and violence in Islamic law," is particularly comical when one considers the all-star league of a scholar such as Dr. Abou El Fadl and his sterling record of publications and scholarship. In contrast, considering the quality of this reviewer's comments, it is like someone from Little Leagues trying to tell the Player of the Year how to play ball.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, July 22, 2002

By 

"brotherihsan" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law (Hardcover)

Staggering in its use of sources, and authoritative on all counts. An incredible book and timeless resource.

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, November 2, 2002

By 

Mr. Flemming (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law (Hardcover)

You don't have to be a fan or student of Dr. Abou El Fadl to appreciate the labor and thoroughness that went into this work.